Michael Mauboussin recently published a detailed discussion of investment performance entitled "Untangling Skill and Luck: How to think about outcomes -- past, present, and future." Many of his conclusions agree with convictions we have held for many years and which we have discussed in this blog before, and we feel that the basic lesson at the heart...
Monday, July 26, 2010
Lower tax rates stimulate growth
This past Friday, the opinion page of the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled "Liberal Tax Revolt," citing several Democrat Congressmen who are arguing that allowing the tax rate cuts of 2003 to expire would be harmful. Among those cited are Senators Evan Bayh (D-Indiana), Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska), and Kent Conrad (D-South Dakota), as...
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Does a rising tide really lift all boats?
If you've been around the investment world for very long, you will no doubt have heard the old adage, "A rising tide lifts all boats."We've pointed out before that investors should exercise caution when choosing whether or not to accept old investment bromides as being beyond question, such as in our examination of the advice to "Sell in May, then...
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Free markets, free enterprise, Friedrich Hayek, and active allocation of investment capital
Every now and then, the argument surfaces that "passive management" represents the investment method that best reflects the principles espoused by champions of economic liberty such as Friedrich Hayek and Adam Smith, and that "only the North Koreans, the Cubans, and active investment managers" have yet to come around to the position that "markets...
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Have you heard of this company? HITT
While the financial media and various pundits and intellectuals remain focused on visions of impending economic armageddon, we recommend investors stick to their investment discipline -- and we have written many times that we believe the best foundation for a solid investment discipline is allocating investment capital to well-run, growing businesses.Over...
Friday, July 02, 2010
Jefferson on economic freedom
"The true foundation of republican government is the equal right of every citizen in his person and property and in their management." -- Thomas Jefferson (letter to Samuel Kercheval, June 12, 1816).On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence changed the course of human history. In the quotation above, its author, Thomas Jefferson, locates...
